Cocktail Atlas

Moscow Mule

Vodka and ginger beer with a little fresh lime, built over ice in a mule cup or rocks glass. Spicy, cold and very easy to make.

Cocktail Atlas · Updated

Spirit
Vodka
Glass
Mule cup or rocks glass
Method
Built
Difficulty
Beginner

Spec source: IBA official cocktail list

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Moscow Mule

Ingredients

Ingredients for Moscow Mule. Tick each one as you add it.
AddedMeasureIngredient
1½ oz
4 oz
⅓ oz

Steps

  1. Fill a mule cup or rocks glass with ice.
  2. Add the vodka and ginger beer, then the lime juice.
  3. Stir gently and garnish with a lime slice.

Garnish Lime slice

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Batch it For a party of 4–20

Makes 8 drinks, about 14¾ oz · 440 ml before ice.

Moscow Mule batch
AmountIngredient
12 oz · 360 mlVodka
2⅔ oz · 80 mlFresh lime juice

No added water: this drink takes its dilution from the ice in the glass. Chill the batch and build each glass over ice.

Fits one 750 ml bottle; a funnel helps.

Add at serving: 4 oz ginger beer per glass. Bubbles go flat in a batch, so they stay out of it.

Made it?

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Why it works

The Moscow Mule leans on ginger beer for almost everything: sweetness, spice and fizz. Vodka adds strength without competing flavors, so the ginger stays front and center, and a small measure of lime cuts through the sweetness and keeps the finish clean. Built over ice and stirred gently, it stays bubbly; a metal mug keeps it especially cold.

Substitutions

  • Use a spicy ginger beer rather than ginger ale; ginger ale is sweeter and milder.
  • Bourbon in place of vodka makes a Kentucky-style mule.
  • Tequila in place of vodka gives an agave-forward mule.

Variations

Questions

Does a Moscow Mule need a copper mug?
No. The IBA spec allows a mule cup or a rocks glass. A metal cup keeps it colder; the drink tastes the same.
Ginger beer or ginger ale?
Ginger beer. It has more ginger heat and less sweetness, which the drink depends on.
Should it be stirred?
Gently, once, so the lime mixes in without knocking out the bubbles.

Making it: Moscow Mule

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